Earlier Incident could be a sick passenger, a stuck train door, a signal failure, kittens on the track. It could be anything. It could also be any time — “earlier,” after all, is blurry, like peering into deep space.

So let’s go cosmic with incarnations of Earlier Incident that have shaped our lives.

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A 7 train, which may or may not be affected by an Earlier Incident, on any given day. CreditVincent Tullo for The New York Times

The subway signal system is one big fat Earlier Incident.

About a decade ago, subway signals were inspected every 30 days; after a batch of new ones were installed, officials changed the schedule to every 90 days. So instead of once a month, signals are now checked four times a year. They have emerged as the second most common cause of delays; officials say we need a more modern system, but the adequacy of maintaining what we have now gets little attention.

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The signal interlocking machine at the West 4th Street Supervisory Tower in Manhattan. CreditKevin Hagen for The New York Times

Along with fewer inspections, the system is chronically short of people to carry them out.“The schools are not putting out as many kids with technical skills, and the ones who do have them get $55 an hour in the private sector,” said John Chiarello, a subway signal maintainer and representative in Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union. “What would you do, take $55 an hour or $35, which is what we make?”

A Stitch in Time, Etc.

Subway cars used to be checked for problems every 12,000 miles, or 66 days. But with a new fleet of cars, officials decided in 2008 they did not need as much T.L.C., and the inspection frequency was reduced to 15,000 miles, or 75 days.“It may have made sense at one time, but it doesn’t make sense any more,” said John Samuelsen, who is president ofboth the transit union local in New York and the international.

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Wheels, trucks and train cars in for repair at the Coney Island Overhaul and Repair shop. CreditJoshua Bright for The New York Times

The performance of those cars, now older, has declined by 40 percent: On average, they were breaking down every 120,000 miles in November 2016,a drop from 200,000 miles in November 2010. The city should pitch in more for day-to-day maintenance, Mr. Samuelsen argues.

Maybe you think this inspection cycle stuff makes for a drab Earlier Incident, compared with, say, a cute puppy on the tracks.

Don’t worry, glamour is on the way.

The Underground Taj Mahal

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The diamond cutter head used to create a tunnel to connect the Long Island Rail Road to Grand Central Terminal. CreditBrian Harkin for The New York Times

One of the most amazing things ever built in an American city is a tunnel on the east side of Manhattan to make it possible for Long Island Rail Road trains to go to a new station 10 floors below Grand Central Terminal. It is not yet open, but one day, people commuting from Long Island won’t have to continue crosstown to Penn Station. It is amazing because it is 1) a stupendous feat of civil engineering, and 2) stupendously expensive. Also, stupidly expensive. So high are the costs — officially, $10.8 billion — and so low the number of passengers it will serve— optimistically, 162,000 riders a day — that the 2nd Avenue Sagas blog calls it, not unreasonably, “the least efficient transit construction project in the world.”

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Senator Alfonse D'Amato, right, and Virgil Conway, the M.T.A. chairman, in 1998, looking at a map for the East Side Access project. CreditEd Bailey/Associated Press

But how is this an Earlier Incident? Because to help pay for it, the subway capital program was raided and cut by more than $1 billion in 1999, the first time that had happened since 1980. The subways serve about 35 times as many commuters as will be accommodated in the new station. But formerSenator Alfonse D’Amato, whose political base was on Long Island, got a pot of federal money for it.You can also send thank-you cards to Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and Gov. George E. Pataki. “If they had built a way to get to Grand Central from Penn Station 20 years ago, they wouldn’t have had to spend so many billions on the East Side Access,” Richard Ravitch, a former chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, said.

Want More Taj Mahals? We Got ’Em

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Work at the World Trade Center/PATH train hub. CreditFred R. Conrad/The New York Times

The PATH station at the World Trade Center was quickly and inexpensively rebuilt after 9/11 and served about 46,000 people. But that wasn’t good enough. That perfectly fine station was replaced at a cost of nearly $4 billion — without serving a single new passenger or laying another inch of track.

Then there is the new Second Avenue line — you know, The Little Subway That Could (Go From 63rd Street to 96th). The tunnel and track were not outlandishly expensive, butthe line’s three new stations have enormous mezzanines that turn each stop into a two-story structure that runs for blocks. The stations alone cost $2.4 billion, as Josh Barro wrote in Business Insider, more than half the project’s $4.5 billion cost.

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A mosaic in an elevator bank at the 72nd Street station of the Second Avenue subway. CreditDamon Winter/The New York Times

Governor Christie Rescues the Gas Tax (Briefly)

This one goes into the Earlier Incident Hall of Fame.

For a long time, New Jersey had one of the lowest gasoline taxes in the country, but in 2010, there were signs that the state might have to raise it. The reason? The existing rail tunnels under the Hudson were in dire condition, and an urgently needed new tunnel was in the final stages of planning. But cost overruns on that project might have required a higher gasoline tax to help defray them. Swooping in to save the day, Gov. Chris Christie abruptly canceled the new tunnel.

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Construction crews working in anticipation of expanding rail access across the Hudson River. Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey canceled an earlier tunnel project when it appeared an increase in the gasoline tax might be required.CreditLeft: Sam Hodgson for The New York Times; right: Mel Evans/Associated Press

An Attempted Earlier Incident

With ridership declines in Brooklyn and Queens during the late 1970s and early 1980s, officials openly discussed shutting certain lines, including the Franklin Avenue shuttle and the G line. Neighborhood activists fought back — and today’s thriving populations in Queens and Brooklyn can thank them for heading off this Earlier Incident.

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A proposal to shut down the Franklin Avenue shuttle was met with hostility. CreditRuby Washington/The New York Times

Did the Earth Move for You in This Earlier Incident?

The transit advocate Gene Russianoff reports that one day in 2011, he heard an announcement, “Due to an earlier incident in Virginia, trains are running normally." Virginia? That’s a long way from Brooklyn. Turns out there had been earthquake in Virginia that day. Why it would cause trains in New York to run normally is a puzzle. “Maybe a deranged dispatcher,” Mr. Russianoff suggested.

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Trains in Brooklyn were running "normally" after an Earlier Incident — an earthquake — in Virginia. CreditScott Olson/Getty Images

Or maybe a little tectonic plate shifting is just the kind of Earlier Incident that we’ve been missing in New York City.

Jim Dwyer joined the Times in May 2001. He was the winner of the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for commentary and a co-recipient of the 1992 Pulitzer for breaking news. He is also the author or co-author of six books.